This invention relates generally to a network capable, multifunctional printing system and more particularly to an improvement for a printing system in which a facsimile document or job is transmitted to a destination printing subsystem, from a facsimile input device with minimal programming capability, for use with a facsimile user profile, the facsimile user profile communicating with the destination printing subsystem and providing the facsimile document with an expanded range of programmability when the facsimile document is processed in conjunction with the facsimile user profile.
Electronic printing systems typically include an input section, a controller, and an output section or print engine. It is particularly significant that an electronic printing system can be adapted to receive jobs for processing by way of a xe2x80x9cfront endxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d communicatively coupled with a local area or wide area network. An example of such electronic printing system is the Xerox DocuCentre 35 (xe2x80x9cDocuCentrexe2x80x9d is a trademark of Xerox Corporation) which communicates with a remote network client by way of network printing software referred to as Centreware (xe2x80x9cCentrewarexe2x80x9d is a trademark of Xerox Corporation). In one example of network printing, a job, including image data and control or programming instructions, is prepared at the client and compiled, by way of a suitable print driver, for transmission across the network to the electronic printing system. The job is interpreted or decomposed with the front end of the electronic printing system for marking with the corresponding print engine. Further detailed description of the network printing process is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,634 to Bonk et al. (Issued: Feb. 20, 1996), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In one area related to electronic printing, namely digital copying, a demand for xe2x80x9cmultifunctionalityxe2x80x9d continues to grow. As illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,071 to Jones (Issued Jul. 27, 1971), a multifunctional digital copier can assume the form of an arrangement in which a single electrostatic processing printer is coupled with a plurality of different image input devices, with such devices being adapted to produce image related information for use by the printer. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,107 to Naito et al. (Issued: Apr. 11, 1989) discloses a multifunctional image apparatus which is operable in one of various office automation modes, such as copy mode, facsimile mode, printer mode and the like. The multifunctional imaging apparatus is comprised of an image reading section, an image forming section and a communication section for transmitting and receiving image data.
As mentioned above, in preparing a job for transmission, the client provides the job with a set of control of programming instructions which indicates a manner in which a destination printer or copier is to process the image data of the job. Additionally, the programming instructions provide guidance as to the manner in which a document, corresponding with the image data, is to be processed. For instance, the programming instructions invariably include information regarding the print media upon which the document is to be printed and may include information indicating how one or more prints are to be finished. Typically, as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,434 to Hower, Jr. et al. (Issued: Nov. 14, 1995), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, programming instructions are provided in the form of print characteristics or attributes (e.g. print media to be used for marking is characterized by the attributes xe2x80x9cmedia sizexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cmedia colorxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cmedia typexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmedia weightxe2x80x9d) where each attribute is corresponded with a value (e.g. print size=8.5xc3x9711.0).
Programming of a job is often achieved with a xe2x80x9cjob ticketxe2x80x9d. For many printing systems, the job ticket is provided in the form of one or more programmable dialogs, each programmable dialog including values which are selected with a user interface, such as the user interface found in a DocuTech printing system (xe2x80x9cDocuTechxe2x80x9d is a registered trademark of Xerox Corporation). Job tickets can vary dramatically in both structure and functionality. In one instance, the job ticket may assume the form of a relatively simple dialog displayed on a liquid crystal display (xe2x80x9cLCDxe2x80x9d). Attributes of a corresponding job, such as desired image processing, designated stock and finishing characteristics may be displayed for setting of suitable output values.
With respect to a multifunctional printing system, a job can be viewed as xe2x80x9ccompositexe2x80x9d in nature since it may include a plurality of xe2x80x9cjob segmentsxe2x80x9d. Each job segment, as defined by U.S. Pat. No. 5,00,762 to Salgado et al. (Issued: Feb. 4, 1997), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, includes a pair of input/output designations used to describe the processing of the job. For example, one job segment may comprise a fax segment in which image data is provided at the scanner of a multifunctional copier for printing at the marking engine of a facsimile device, and another job segment may comprise a print job in which the image data is provided at the scanner of the multifunctional copier for printing at a printer on the network disposed remotely of the multifunctional copier.
Communication of programmed segments on a network can be facilitated through the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,461 to Harkins et al. (Issued: Aug. 12, 1997). The ""461 Patent discloses a method in which a sender automatically distributes information to a receiver on a network using devices (such as printers and facsimile machines) and communication channels (such as electronic mail) defined in a receiver profile. The receiver profile establishes the properties and mode for receipt of information for receivers on the network and the profile is published in a network repository for all network users or is accessible by selected groups or individuals on the network. As disclosed in the ""461 Patent, the properties of the profile relate to a manner in which a job is to be communicated throughout the network relative to various user locations rather than control instructions for the job.
Neither U.S. Pat. No. 5,00,762 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,461 address a situation in which a user of a typical or common facsimile device desires to transmit a fax segment from a facsimile device to a multifunctional copier where the copier includes many programmable attributes (e.g. image processing, print media and finishing attributes) which are not made available at the typical facsimile device. For instance, the facsimile device may, through use of a suitable protocol, such as ITU-T T.30 protocol, provide the fax segment with a paper size attribute (e.g. substrate width); however, a host of other attributes, including a number of media related attributes, are not provided at the facsimile device. In particular, a typical facsimile device does not permit the user to provide a variety of image processing attributes (e.g. auto-sizing), print media attributes (e.g. print media color and print media type) and finishing (e.g. stitching or binding). Thus the user of a facsimile device is often put in a position of being unable to utilize the full functionality of the destination multifunctional copier.
The programming capability of a typical facsimile device can be enhanced by the use of a subsystem in which optical character recognition is used in conjunction with a coded sheet. In one such approach, a paper job ticket with programming selections and accompanying selection areas is provided to a user. Prior to scanning a hard copy document, the user marks the appropriate selection areas and scans the coded sheet with the OCR subsystem. Accordingly, the programming selections of the coded sheet are passed along with the image data of a job for use in job processing at a destination printing device.
As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, a system employing machine readable code, such as that disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,554 to Rourke (Issued: Nov. 13, 1990) could be used to enhance the programmability of a network printing system. In the ""554 Patent, programming instructions are stored at a network location and those instructions are accessed by a destination printing machine upon reading a bar code written on a separator sheet. An approach related to that disclosed by the ""554 Patent can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,649 to Kovnat et al. (Issued: Apr. 8, 1997).
Xerox Corporation markets a product, referred to as xe2x80x9cPaperWorksxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cPaperWorksxe2x80x9d is a trademark of Xerox), which uses concepts similar to those used in the above-described OCR/coded sheet system. In particular, the PaperWorks product utilizes a special encoded fine pattern of special marks (xe2x80x9cglyphsxe2x80x9d), electronically recognized as such using PC computer software by a facsimile electronic image receiver. The PaperWorks product was configured initially to operate on a conventional personal computer having a conventional internal fax card and a modem, electronic mail system or other network connection to telecommunications, and running xe2x80x9cWindowsxe2x80x9d software (xe2x80x9cWindowsxe2x80x9d is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc.). A xe2x80x9cPaperWorksxe2x80x9d fax form carries a coded identification region which, upon scanning, may be decoded by an appropriate processing system. This coded identification allows the system to determine which of several different pre-stored forms the received form is, and what its page layout is. From this, the system can also extract the necessary user-entered information from the form to facilitate processing. An important feature of the PaperWorks system is the use of data defining a control sheet image to provide information in accordance with which operations are performed on data defining a sequence of images (data defining images, not actual physical sheets of a medium). For example, the control sheet image can include information indicating a destination to which a fax server then transmits data defining the sequence of images.
The use of coded sheets to provide a fax document with a higher degree of programming is well suited for those situations in which a facsimile device user is provided with an appropriate level of resources, such a suitable sheet and the software necessary to interpret the sheet. Typically, however, users are not provided with such resources when transmitting a facsimile document from a common facsimile device to a destination printing machine. Moreover, when a print media tray is selected for use at a destination multifunctional copier with a plurality of print media trays on the basis of size alone, the possibility of choosing a tray loaded with print media having inappropriate color, type and/or weight is significant. It would be desirable to provide users with the ability to program the facsimile document transmitted from the common facsimile device with a robust set of attribute values without requiring such users to employ software other than the software normally employed with the common facsimile device.
The present invention is particularly suited for use in a network environment, such as in the context of the world wide web, the internet or the like. Examples of some recent patents relating to network environments of plural remote terminal shared users of networked printers include Xerox Corporation U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,483,653, 5,243,518, 5,226,112, 5,170,340 and 5,287,194. Some patents on this subject by others include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,113,355, 5,113,494 (originally filed Feb. 27, 1987), U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,181,162, 5,220,674, 5,247,670; 4,953,080 and 4,821,107. Further by way of background, some of the following Xerox(copyright) Corporation U.S. patents also include examples of networked systems with printers: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,153,577; 5,113,517; 5,072,412; 5,065,347; 5,008,853; 4,947,345; 4,939,507; 4,937,036; 4,920,481; 4,914,586; 4,899,136; 4,453,128; 4,063,220; 4,099,024; 3,958,088; 3,920,895; and 3,597,071. Also noted are IBM Corp. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,651,278 and 4,623,244, as well as Canon U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,458 and Jap. Pub. No. 59-63872 published Nov. 4, 1984. Some of these various above patents also disclose multi-functional printing systems.
Some other network system related publications include xe2x80x9cXerox Office Systems Technologyxe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cXerox 8000 Series Products: Workstations, Services, Ethernet, and Software Developmentxe2x80x9d (copyright) 1982, 1984 by Xerox Corporation, OSD-R8203A, Ed. T. Linden and E. Harslem, with a xe2x80x9cTable of Contentsxe2x80x9d citing its numerous prior publications sources, and an Abstract noting the April 1981 announcement of xe2x80x9cthe 8110 Star Informations System, A New Personal Computer . . . xe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cXerox System Integration Standard Printing Protocol XSIS 118404xe2x80x9d, April 1984; xe2x80x9cXerox Integrated Production Publishers Solutions: xe2x80x9cBooklet No. xe2x80x9c610P50807xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9c11/85xe2x80x9d; xe2x80x9cPrinting Protocol-Xerox System Integration Standardxe2x80x9d (copyright) 1990 by Xerox Corporation, XNSS 119005 May 1990; xe2x80x9cXerox Network Systems Architecturexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cGeneral Information Manualxe2x80x9d, XNSG 068504 April 1985, with an extensive annotated bibliography, (copyright) 1985 by Xerox Corporation; xe2x80x9cInterpress: The Source Bookxe2x80x9d, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1988, by Harrington, S. J. and Buckley, R. R.; Adobe Systems Incorporated xe2x80x9cPostScriptxe2x80x9d Language Reference Manualxe2x80x9d, Addison-Wesley Co., 1990; xe2x80x9cMastering Novellxe2x80x9d Netware(copyright)xe2x80x9d, 1990, SYBEX, Inc., Alameda, Calif., by Cheryl E. Currid and Craig A. Gillett; xe2x80x9cPalladium Print Systemxe2x80x9d (copyright) MIT 1984, et sec; xe2x80x9cAthena85xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cComputing in Higher Education: The Athena Experiencexe2x80x9d, E. Balkovich, et al, Communications of the ACM, 28(11) pp. 1214-1224, November, 1985; and xe2x80x9cApollo87 The Network Computing Architecture and System: An Environment for Developing Distributed Applicationsxe2x80x9d, T. H. Dineen, et al, Usenix Conference Proceedings, June 1987.
Noted regarding commercial network systems with printers and software therefor is the 1992 Xerox Corporation xe2x80x9cNetwork Publisherxe2x80x9d version of the 1990 xe2x80x9cDocuTech(copyright)xe2x80x9d publishing system, including the xe2x80x9cNetwork Serverxe2x80x9d to customer""s Novell(copyright) 3.11 networks, supporting various different network protocols and xe2x80x9cEthernetxe2x80x9d; and the Interpress Electronic Printing Standard, Version 3.0, Xerox System Integration Standard XNSS 048601 (January 1986). Also, the much earlier Xerox Corporation xe2x80x9c9700 Electronic printing Systemxe2x80x9d; the xe2x80x9cVP Local Laser Printingxe2x80x9d software application package, which, together with the Xerox xe2x80x9c4045xe2x80x9d or other Laser Copier/Printer, the xe2x80x9c6085xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cProfessional Computer Systemxe2x80x9d using Xerox Corporation xe2x80x9cViewPointxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cGlobalView(copyright)xe2x80x9d software and a xe2x80x9clocal printer [print service] Optionxe2x80x9d kit, comprises the xe2x80x9cDocumenterxe2x80x9d system. The even earlier Xerox Corporation xe2x80x9c8000xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cXerox Network Services Product Descriptionsxe2x80x9d further describe other earlier Xerox Corporation electronic document printing systems. Eastman Kodak xe2x80x9cLion Heart(copyright)xe2x80x9d systems, first announced Sep. 13, 1990, are also noted.
Current popular commercial published xe2x80x9csystems softwarexe2x80x9d with LAN workstation connections include Novell DOS 7.0, xe2x80x9cWindows(copyright)xe2x80x9d NT 3.1, and IBM OS/2 Version 2.1.
All of the references designated in the above Background section are incorporated herein by reference.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is disclosed a printing system, with a memory and a plurality of document processing related subsystems, for processing a facsimile document with an image data set. The printing system, which communicates with an input device, by way of a network, so that one or more prints are producible from the image data set when the image data set is transmitted from the input device to a printing subsystem. The printing system includes: a facsimile user profile, stored in the memory of the printing system, including one or more attribute sets with each attribute set, along with a corresponding set of attribute values, defining a manner in which a portion of the facsimile document is to be processed at the printing subsystem; a facsimile processing subsystem for reading the facsimile user profile to determine whether a selected one of the plurality of document processing related subsystems is enabled to process the portion of the facsimile document in accordance with one of the one or more attribute sets if the facsimile user profile; and wherein the portion of the facsimile document is processed with the selected one of the plurality of document processing related subsystems when it is determined, with said facsimile processing subsystem, that the selected one of the plurality of document processing related subsystems is enabled to process the portion of the facsimile document in accordance with the facsimile user profile.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is disclosed a method of processing a facsimile document in a network printing system having a printing subsystem communicating with an input device by way of a network. The network printing system includes a memory and a plurality of document processing related subsystems, the input device transmitting the facsimile document to a printing subsystem for producing one or more prints based on the facsimile document. The method includes: a) determining whether a facsimile user profile, including one or more attribute sets with each attribute set, along with a corresponding set of attribute values, defining a manner in which a portion of the facsimile document is to be processed at the printing subsystem, is stored in the memory; b) in response to determining that the facsimile user profile is stored in the memory, i) reading the facsimile user profile to determine whether a selected one of the plurality of document processing related subsystems is enabled to process the portion of the facsimile document in accordance with one of the one or more attribute sets if the facsimile user profile, and ii) processing the portion of the facsimile document with the selected one of the plurality of document processing related subsystems when it is determined with said (b)(i) that the selected one of the plurality of document processing related subsystems is enabled to process the portion of the facsimile document in accordance with the facsimile user profile; and c) in response to determining that the facsimile user profile is not stored in the memory, selecting one or more of the plurality of document processing related subsystems to process the portion of the facsimile document.